


let it rain 'cause you and I remain the same

by dumbacapellapotatoes (Bechloetrash)



Series: Soulmates AU [2]
Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Chloe's POV, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, TiMER AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:49:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25317082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bechloetrash/pseuds/dumbacapellapotatoes
Summary: A companion piece for11hrs: 51mins: 45stold from Chloe's POV.
Relationships: Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell
Series: Soulmates AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1833763
Comments: 20
Kudos: 113





	let it rain 'cause you and I remain the same

**Author's Note:**

> As the summary states, this is a companion piece for 11hrs told from Chloe's POV. Though it is not necessary to read that before to understand this, it is highly encouraged to do so. As always, enjoy!

“Mom, Dad!” 

Miami International Airport was a bustling hub, passengers coming and going in all directions. For Chloe Beale, its sights had become intimately familiar after seven years of frequent traveling to and from its busy halls. She skillfully waded through the masses launching herself into her father’s open and waiting arms with a squeal. 

Christopher Beale was a formidable man, even now, nearing 60 years old, he was an imposing figure. A retired Navy Captain standing at 6 feet tall, he commanded respect and authority. As a Navy official, he was well-liked and respected by his subordinates. As a father, he skirted the line between loving father and strict disciplinarian; he liked to think his beloved Beth helped smooth out his harsher edges. 

“Hi, Pumpkin,” greeted her father. 

“How was the flight, baby?” Asked her mom as she wrestled Chloe’s duffle bag onto her shoulder. 

A high school history teacher, Elizabeth Beale prided herself in having created a classroom known across the student body as a safe and welcoming environment. She had done a good job of extending that safety and peacefulness to her own children. 

“Oh, y’know, same ‘ol.” The flight from Atlanta to Miami was only two hours, Chloe would’ve driven if they weren’t in the thick of finals and finalizing their Worlds set. 

“I’m so happy to have you home for the weekend. Your brother will be so happy to see you!" 

Chloe smiled letting the warmth she always felt when coming home envelop her, chasing away the problems she left behind in Atlanta. 

  
  


* * *

“Lunch will be ready in twenty minutes, you two!” Her mother’s voice drifted into the living room where Chloe and Elliot were catching up in between rounds of  _ Mario Kart _ . 

“So. Are we going to talk about why you’re _ actually _ here or keep pretending it’s because it’s my birthday?” Elliot asked after almost ten minutes of companionable silence. 

“What are you talking about?” Chloe reached for another handful of popcorn from the bowl sat in between them. She popped a few kernels into her mouth before continuing, “Of course I’m here for your birthday.” 

“Bull,” Elliot paused the game before swiping the almost empty bowl from the couch before Chloe could grab another handful. He placed it on the coffee table before them and leaned back on the couch to fix his searching gaze on his older sister. 

She skillfully avoided his gaze for a few minutes before slumping against the couch cushions with a sigh. Clear blue eyes stared at the ceiling as she talked. “I needed to get away from… I don’t know, all of it?” 

“From Beca?” He prodded. 

“Yes,” she murmured. 

Beca Mitchell; the one person Chloe was finding increasingly difficult to stop thinking about these days. The knowledge that their days together were numbered had kept her awake for weeks now. Every day she waged an internal battle to keep a lid on her many, often less-than-friendly feelings for her co-captain. 

Chloe had lost count by now of the nights she’d laid awake, staring at the ceiling trying to gather up the courage to confess her feelings. In her darker moments, she had even entertained the idea that  _ she  _ could be Beca’s soulmate. She wondered if Beca had ever made the connection, had even thought about it. She doubted it. 

Beca had a boyfriend. A funny, handsome,  _ timerless  _ boyfriend, who’d had the courage to do what Chloe couldn’t. 

“Chloe, someday you’re gonna have to tell her the truth. She deserves to know, and you deserve an answer, at the very least.” 

* * *

**Becs [2:11 PM]:** _ hope u made it home okay. We miss u nerd!  _

__ _ I did. I miss you guys, too! Don’t have too much candy while I’m gone. ;)  _

  
  


Stepping out into the warm, Florida night air Chloe took in the scenery before her. Gentle waves lapped at the shore just a few feet away from their back porch, the crashing waves creating the perfect, soothing melody to let her thoughts drift. 

Elliot wasn’t entirely wrong, she knew one way or another she would eventually have to come clean to Beca about her feelings. If only to put an end to her traitorous daydreams that not only did Beca feel the same way about her but she was also the soulmate Chloe had been searching for, for so many years now.

Destined to meet, fall in love even without their timers’ help. 

Her timer. She had learned throughout her life to push it far out of her mind and keep living her life as if it wasn’t even there. But for the last few months, it had become almost impossible to do so. Its blank, little screen glared at her from the inside of her wrist, a mocking, ever-present reminder of what seemingly everyone else around her had.  _ Answers.  _

Chloe was fourteen years old when she’d received her timer. Only a few weeks after her birthday her parents finally agreed to let her get one, after much begging and persuading from her part. They wanted her to wait another year and Chloe just… didn’t see the point. 

She still remembered the look on her parents’ faces when her timer had remained stubbornly blank. But the young clerk who had implanted the chip rushed to assure them it was fairly common, at that age, for timers to remain blank for a few months. Maybe even a year or two. 

Age gaps were the most common reason for blank timers and there was little they could do about it. Chloe would just have to be patient. 

As the years went by and her timer remained the same and the people around her started meeting their soulmates, fear had slowly and inevitably blossomed. Fear that she would never meet her soulmate or worse yet, that she just didn’t have one in the first place. 

Meeting Beca had been the first real shred of hope Chloe had felt in far too long. Losing Beca to her indecisiveness and fears had been her biggest heartbreak. Now she feared it might be too late. 

“There you are. I’ve been looking everywhere for you, Pumpkin.” 

Her father’s voice cut through her musings, bringing Chloe back to the present. He settled on the porch swing next to her with a sigh. 

“Hey. Sorry, I needed some alone time.”

“Can’t be easy finding some peace and quiet in that big, full house, is it?”

Chloe smiled. “No, it’s not.” 

Silence surrounded them for a moment, neither willing to break the peace of the moment. 

“Can I ask you something, Dad?” 

“Of course, Pumpkin. Anything.” 

“Do you think it’s silly, that I’ve kept this on me all these years even though it’s still not working?” Her fingertips brushed over the slight bump of her timer as she spoke. 

“What makes you think that?” 

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot and, I don’t know, lately it just feels like it’s holding me back more than anything.” 

Chloe would be the first to admit she’d made some spectacularly bad decisions in the last few years, all in hopes to get her timer going. Countless, meaningless relationships she hoped would make her feel  _ alive. _ Her stubborn determination to stay with The Bellas—with Beca—for as long as possible. But they were all graduating in just a few short weeks and this now felt like the end of the rope for her. 

“Holding you back? From what?” her father asked, inquisitive eyes trained on her. 

“From moving on with my life,” Chloe shrugged. “I feel like I’ve spent my whole life just, I don’t know…  _ waiting _ . For something that might never even happen and I’m  _ so _ tired of it, Dad.” She nestled close to his side letting her head rest on his shoulder. 

“Now, you listen to me, Pumpkin,” he said, his tone soft and tender. “You are  _ far  _ too young to be worrying about whether or not you’re going to be spending the rest of your life alone. You have your whole life ahead of you, Chloe,” she couldn’t see his face but she knew he was smiling. “The right person will come along at the right time. Whether you decide to keep that timer of yours or not.” 

“How do you know?” she questioned, lifting her head to look him in the eyes. 

“Because I’m your father,” he said with a hearty chuckle, a gentle smile graced his lips. “I’ve known you, your entire life. I know how special you are and I know there’s someone out there that will see it too.” 

“Thanks, Dad.” 

* * *

Her conversation with her father the night before had given her plenty to think about. 

She knew she could do it, it wouldn’t take more than ten minutes to get rid of her timer. A quick trip to the half dozen clinics that performed removals nearby and she’d be done with it. But just like every other time she let her thoughts drift down that particular path a little voice at the back of her head kept insistently whispering “ _ what if… _ ” 

For as many times as Chloe had gathered up the courage to do it, had even gone as far as to sit in her car, parked in front of one the clinics one time, the nagging little voice she preferred not to listen to very often, gave her pause. 

All the  _ what if’s  _ kept her from moving until she inevitably returned home to drown her sorrows in plenty of booze. This time, her father's words echoed in her mind as she drove down the coast, the radio loud enough to drown out everything else. 

Blindly clinging to the hope that her timer would one day start it’s count down just wasn’t enough anymore. Not when she already knew, without a shadow of a doubt, there was only one person she wanted to be with. But she couldn’t risk losing Beca from her life altogether. Was she supposed to just walk up to Beca and tell her she was certain they were soulmates? She’d probably think Chloe had gone crazy. Maybe she has. Because being in love with Beca Mitchell was the most maddening experience of Chloe’s life. 

Her destination soon came into view; a small clearing just off the beach that offered the perfect, secluded view of white sand, crashing waves, and the expanse of the ocean. Her finger hovered over Beca’s name on her phone debating whether or not to call when a small chime filled the space. 

She gasped, staring at the numbers suddenly counting down on her wrist. 

_ 000d 11hrs 51mns 45s  _

“Holy shit.” 

With just under twelve hours that meant Chloe would be meeting her soulmate within a day. A healthy amount of relief and grief warred within her at the thought and that surprised her. For all the times she’d thought about what this moment would be like, she never imagined the heavy weight that had settled on her chest. Then again, she hadn’t allowed herself to think about this moment very often ever since she'd met Beca and the few times that she  _ had  _ allowed herself to indulge in  _ what if’s  _ she’d always imagined Beca as her soulmate. 

But now… 

Beca would be miles away when Chloe’s timer zeroed out.  _ That  _ wasn’t a possibility she’d allowed herself to think about very often. 

Tears threatened to spill over when another chime, this time from her phone startled Chloe out of her reverie. 

She unlocked her phone with shaking hands, reading the message on the screen over and over until the words finally came into focus through the haze clouding her mind. Without realizing it, she'd been out of the house for longer than she'd anticipated. Her mother's message asking where she was prompted a glance at the clock on the dashboard. The numbers glaring back sent her into motion, navigating the coastal streets back to her parents' house. 

* * *

It was by a stroke of luck that Chloe managed to keep her newly active timer from her mother, but just barely. She got home with just enough time to shower and change before the first of their guests arrived. A nice PG-13 rated party with some of Elliot’s better-behaved friends and closest family to please their mother, an unsupervised night of teenage fun afterward. 

Her eyes tracked Elliot’s newly dyed blue locks through the party like a bright beacon when her phone buzzed in her pocket. 

**CR [6:37PM]** :  _ you might wanna check on the cap  _

**Stace [6:37PM]** :  _ she just got home with her panties all up in a twist. U 2 had a fight?  _

_ Did you guys forget im home for the weekend???  _

**CR [6:38]** :  _ girl pls _ . 

__ _ Fine fine. You 2 hush.  _

Chloe rolled her eyes as she exited the group thread and pulled up Beca’s last text message; she read it over again and hesitated briefly before firing off a new text. 

_ What’s wrong, grumpy pants?  _

**Becs [6:40PM]** :  _ Who said anything’s wrong??  _

She started heading back toward the house as she sent the next text. 

_ Stace. And CR. What happened?  _

Beca’s next message stopped Chloe in her tracks and she had to read it over and over trying to make sense of the words staring back at her from the screen. 

**Becs [6:41PM]** :  _ Jesse and i broke up.  _

A flicker of hope she didn’t know existed anymore blossomed irrepressibly in her chest traveling all the way down to the tips of her toes. She was thrumming with nerves, making her heartbeat quicken, a million possibilities flying through her mind. That little, nagging voice at the back of her mind kept telling her they missed their chance, that this didn’t mean anything. Beca still didn’t have a timer and now Chloe had a countdown she couldn’t ignore. 

She didn’t hesitate to call Beca instead of continuing their text conversation. She smiled when Beca's soft greeting came after only a few rings. 

“Hey. Are you okay, Bec?” 

Beca heaved a sigh before answering “ _ I don’t know, honestly _ ." 

The tremor in her voice betrayed her words; Chloe's heart ached for her then, cursing the distance that separated them. She stepped into the empty kitchen, cutting off the now distant sounds of the party behind her. "Do you wanna talk about it?" She asked. 

" _ Not right now, no. Tell me about your trip home?" _

Beca had unknowingly provided Chloe with the perfect opportunity, quite literally on a silver platter, to discuss her new countdown that was slowly and steadily moving towards zero. The words were right there, on the tip of her tongue yet instead she said, “my brother dyed his hair blue. I think my mom almost had a heart attack.” 

A lackluster chuckle filtered through the speakers, “ _ I think I’m gonna need pictures of that.”  _

“Oh, I’m sure he’ll be happy to show off his bright blue monstrosity of a hairdo.” What was once a feeble spark of hope, easy to ignore and tamp down was now a full-fledged inferno that burned her from the inside, consuming everything until all that was left was the overwhelming urge to confess every feeling she’d been doing her best to hide for almost four years. 

Yet with every jab and self-deprecating joke she could feel her window of opportunity slipping away. 

* * *

_ “Take my car and go. What do you have to lose, Chloe?”  _

Elliot’s words the night before echoed in Chloe’s mind now as she parked in front of the Bellas’ house. After talking to Beca she’d lingered in the house until the party eventually moved inside when the night time chill became too much. 

_ “I could lose her. And what about this?” Chloe asked, pointing towards the rapidly diminishing countdown on her skin.  _

_ “What about it? Meeting your soulmate doesn’t mean you magically stop being in love with her.”  _

He’d push his car keys into Chloe’s hand, telling her he would get it back in a few weeks when they came to Atlanta for her graduation. Before she could talk herself out of it, she’d driven through the night, mentally rehearsing what she would say, running through every possible scenario she could come up with. 

Now Chloe’s fingers drummed a steady, nervous beat over the steering wheel as she stared at the front door. If she got out of the car and went inside, there would be no turning back. But she could still let things remain the way they were. She could drive away and pretend none of this ever happened, drown her sorrows in some bar and…  _ and then what?  _

According to her timer, Chloe still had a soulmate to meet today and she highly doubted meeting while absolutely drunk would be a good start to their relationship. Besides, whoever her soulmate was would never come close to-- 

Groaning, she let her head fall heavily onto the steering wheel with a  _ thunk. Now or never. _

A sudden burst of energy propelled her out of the car, her hastily re-packed duffle bag on her shoulder. She got as far as the front door, key in the lock before her heart started beating wildly in her chest. No turning back now. 

She spotted her immediately, squished in between Amy & Cynthia-Rose on the couch. The disgruntled look on her face warmed Chloe through; the look in her eyes when they finally met Chloe’s was enough to stop her in her tracks. The intensity in Beca’s eyes was like nothing she’d ever seen before, it felt like she was staring right into her soul, knocking all the oxygen out of her lungs when two distinct chimes reached her ears. 

Everything became muffled and blurry after that, like trying to break the surface of the water. Beca stood and took a shaky step towards her and she stepped back instinctively. Finally, she was able to tear her eyes away from Beca’s for the first time, her gaze landing on her timer. 

_ 000d 00hrs 00mns 00s  _ the numbers blinked back at her and for all the times Chloe imagined how this moment might go and how it would make her feel, she found no comfort in it now. 

_ “Chloe.”  _

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked as the haziness clouding her thoughts slowly dissipated. 

“Why didn’t you?” Beca asked instead. 

They found themselves alone a moment later and the distance between them, physically and emotionally, made Chloe feel vulnerable and unmoored; she ached to make it disappear. Something like defeat had settled over Beca bogging her tiny frame down, making her look so much smaller than she actually was. The tears prickling behind dark blue eyes were enough to burst the bubble of grief and anger that started bubbling away in her chest moments earlier. 

“I didn’t wanna hurt you,” Beca answered when she asked again. “Why didn’t you? You’ve been waiting for so long, I figured you’d be dying to tell everyone immediately.” 

They were standing so close she couldn’t resist the urge to get her arms around Beca and she quickly tucked herself into the warm cradle between the other woman’s legs, her arms falling gently over Beca’s shoulders. “I was fourteen when I got mine, Becs,” she spoke through the tears tightening her throat. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for almost eleven years.” 

Apologies were tumbling past Beca’s lips fast as she gripped the back of Chloe’s shirt hard. “I’m so, so,  _ so  _ sorry Chloe.” 

Hot tears dampened her neck and chest as she gathered Beca close in her arms, willing all this guilt and pain she could feel radiating off of her in waves far away. All the pain and heartache that led them to this day, to this moment suddenly seemed so far away it didn’t matter any longer. “You didn’t know,” she whispered into Beca’s ear softly. 

* * *

Once in the safety and sanctuary of her room, the events of the day came rushing back like a freight train. She settled next to Beca on her bed, breathing in her uniquely comforting scent. She felt Beca’s arms wrap securely around her, pulling Chloe down on top of her as she settled against Chloe’s pillows. With a deep sigh, she felt the last four years of pent up emotions released in a torrential wave of tears and choked sobs she could do little to control. 

Beca’s strong embrace held her close, chasing away the grief. Gentle lips dropped kisses along the crown of her head and against her forehead coupled with sweet nothings that soothed the ache in her chest. She felt something finally slide into place inside her chest and for the first time since the day she got her timer, Chloe finally felt like she could breathe again. 

This right here, the feeling of Beca’s body warm and solid beneath hers, the love of her life wrapped around her was the only thing she would need for the rest of her life. They had a lifetime to figure the rest out. 

  
  



End file.
